Ethan and Danni
by HOAfan8509
Summary: What if instead of Cassandra/Woman in White that Ethan found at Wyndemere it was a girl looking for help against Helena because she was torturing her family just like the Spencers?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer - I own nothing but Danni, everything regarding to General Hospital belongs to the rightful owners.**

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"Gotcha," Ethan said, finally catching the person who had been in the tunnels of Wyndemere.

She turned around and faced him, finally revealing herself; she was tall, about 5'7, with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a blue top and a leather jacket. At first glance she seemed ordinary, but Ethan thought that there was more to her than meets the eye.

"Hello. So the good news is, I'm not crazy," Ethan said, " I've heard the sounds and seen the light, and I felt that presence in the room. It was you - wasn't it? You were spying on me. I'm sorry, let me start over. I'm Ethan, what's your name?"

"Danni."

"Ok, Danni. It's nice to meet you. People have been accusing me of chasing ghosts, but I see now that you're standing there, y-you're real. As real as it gets, aren't you?"

Danni looked like she was gonna take off and run; she didn't know this guy and for all she knew he could be crazy, or worse, working for Helena.

"Don't be scared," Ethan said, " I'm harmless, m-most of the time. This place, probably not so much. I mean you never know what's lurking around the corner or creeping through the walls, you know. Obviously you would know, you've been in them. How long have you been here anyway?"

"A few weeks, maybe longer," Danni admitted. She had been here long enough that she started losing track of time, "I'm gonna go."

"No, no, no. It's okay. I knew that there was someone here in the tunnels. You were watching me, waiting for me to leave so you could have run of the place. I've been there myself, the life of a drifter, I know it well. And you watch people and wait for them to go out of town so you can let yourself into their house and take a warm shower, raid the fridge, maybe sleep in a real bed at night. I've helped myself to similar things but I've never slashed a family portrait. So what do you have against Laura Spenser anyway?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't slash any painting?"

"You didn't?"

"Of course not. I was trying to be invisible. Ruining someone else's property wouldn't help, especially a painting of someone I don't know."

"Huh. Good point, and from what I know Laura is a kind, caring, compassionate woman. Not the kind you go after with a dagger, unless of course, you're Helena Cassidine."

Danni's eyes widen in fear; this guy knew Helena and if he told her she was here, she'd be done for.

"Hang on. Helena told me that she was looking for something here, but it was someone - wasn't it? She was looking for you," Ethan realized, " I'm not going to sell you out, okay, I'm just trying to get this cast of character straight in my head. I found foot prints when I was here before, and they were big - they were definitely too big to be yours. Do you know who they might belong to? Have you seen anyone else here?"

"No, I haven't."

"Do you think it could have been one of Helena's henchmen?"

"I don't know, maybe. Whenever I heard someone come in I go into the tunnels and wait for them to leave," Danni explained, "but that's usually you. There was this one time that someone came into the tunnel, but I didn't see who it was."

"You didn't?"

"No, I assumed it was you."

"Ok, here's my next question; why is Helena looking for you?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself - after all you're on her payroll."

"What? You think that I work for Helena?"

"You're the caretaker here, right?"

"That doesn't mean I work for Helena."

"And why should I believe that?"

"Well, for one, it's true. And two if you knew me you'd know that Helena hates my guts along with the rest of my family."

"Uh-huh. Still not convinced that you're not one of Helena's boy toys."

"Ok, then how can I convince you?"

Danni looked thoughtful for a moment before her eyes widened in fear.

"What?"

"Behind you!" Danni shouted.

Ethan spun around, but nothing was there. When he turned back Danni was gone, taken off into the tunnels.

"Hey, wait!" Ethan shouted, going after her.

He tried looking for her, but Danni had been living in the tunnels for a while now, and she knew them better than he did.

Over the next few days Ethan tried keeping an eye out for Danni; he left notes, even brought a box of food for her, but he always seemed to miss her.

The next time he brought more food he tried staying awake as long as possible so he could see her, but he ended up falling asleep on the couch.

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**So what do you think?**

**Read and review please. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer - I own nothing but Danni, everything regarding to General Hospital belongs to the rightful owners.**

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Danni came our of the tunnel and couldn't believe that Ethan was still here, and brought her more food.

_What is with this guy?_ she thought.

She saw a note next to the box; obliviously Ethan was trying to get her to talk to him again.

**Who are you Danni? **it read.

Deciding that she had enough she tapped Ethan on the shoulder, waking him with a start.

"W-What?"

"Relax, it's me."

"Well it's about time," he sat up," I was beginning to think that you'd never talk to me."

"Well, can you blame me?"

"No, not really. Look, I'm just trying to help, if you're in trouble and Helena's involved-"

"Why do you care? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I do enjoy a challenge and love an adventure, but I just want to help. I can't explain it but I want to know more about you. I can't stop thinking about you."

"So you're interested in the mystery; the fact that I have secrets and I'm in danger."

"Ok, yes. I'm intrigued by the mystery, but I also want to know you."

"Yeah, and when you do the magic of the mystery you feel will go away. You'll see the real me and be disappointed."

"Oh, come on. You don't know that."

There was a sudden bang, signaling that someone had come through the front door.

"I gotta go," Danni rushed back into the tunnel before Ethan could say anything.

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Later at Kelley's Ethan was thinking about Danni, again.

He didn't know why she trust yet; he didn't tell anyone about her, and he left food for her. Also when Alexis and Molly showed up at Wyndemere he still didn't say anything about her, not to mention that he probably Alexis suspicious that he was hiding something. Granted he looked a little obvious, but he did his best.

He was wondering if he should give up, but that wasn't him. He never gave up on a challenge that easily.

Walking out of Kelley's he was checking his phone when he heard someone behind him.

"Ethan." He turned and was surprised to see Danni.

"You're here."

"Yeah, I wanted to apologize," Danni explained, "you were just trying to help and I shouldn't have treated you that way."

"It's ok, I understand. So what are you doing here?"

"I thought that you deserved some answers after everything you've done for me. Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, of course. Uh, you want to go inside?"

"Sure. I could you a cup of coffee."

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"So I guess my first question is, why are you hiding from Helena?"

"Helena's been torturing my family for years," Danni explained," my parents had a bad run-in with a relative of hers and they ended up killing him in self-defense."

"Let me guess, she swore revenge and torment 'til they died."

"Pretty much. Um, before I give you the whole story there's something that you need to know about my parents connection to the Cassidines; my mother's connection actually."

"Okay, what is it?"

"My mother was a cousin of the Cassidines."

"Cousin? So you're a Cassidine as well?"

"Barely? My mom was a second cousin or something like that. No one really acknowledge her as family, expect for Victor."

"Is he the one that you're parents..."

"Yeah. When my parents started seeing each other Victor tried to break them up. After they found out they confronted him."

"I take it that it didn't end well."

"Victor attacked my dad and he didn't have any other choice but to defend himself," Danni said, "when Helena found out she swore her vengeance. She also said my mother would pay dearly for betraying her family when they took off."

"What happened to them?"

"They died in a car accident a couple years ago. It's just me and my brothers now."

"If you're parents are gone, then why is Helena still circling around?"

"Well, my brothers and I have done our fair share of making things difficult for Helena. That and along with being my parents child kind of puts me on her list."

"How did you end up here in Port Charles"

"The last time Helena, um, graced my family with her presence she said something that made me think that we weren't the only family she was having her fun with. I did some research and found out about Luke Spenser and his history with Helena's sons and figured he'd be on Helena's list too."

"Well, you assumed correct. Luke is my father."

"He is. Well, where is he?"

"Out of town at the moment."

"Are you serious? I knew I shouldn't have layed low for too long."

"Yeah, that brings me to my next question; how did you end up at Wyndemere?"

"Well, Helena found out what I was up to and when I landed at the air port a couple of her boy toys were waiting for me," Danni explained, "I figured that the best place to hid from her would be right under for nose, so I went to Wyndemere."

"Quick thinking, but she did look for you there."

"Yes, but she didn't find me. So I thought if I stayed hidden long enough she'd think I left town and go looking elsewhere."

"Well, why did you stay there for so long?"

"I knew that she wouldn't give up that easily and even when she did she'd have eyes and ears around town, just in case."

"A little paranoid are we?"

"When it comes to Helena I learned not to underestimate her; she's smart, and the things that she's capable of can surprise you, especially when you think you have her plan all figured out."

"Sounds like you know her well."

"I should after all the years we've gone toe-to-toe, or toe-to-talon I guess you could say."

Ethan laughed. "Good one."

"Thanks. So, what about you? How did you end up at Wyndemere?"

"Ah, should have seen this coming," Ethan said, "well I heard about that painting of Laura there so I went to go check it out."

"So you decided to sneak into the lion's den to curb your curiosity?"

"Pretty much," Ethan smirked.

"I take it something happened that made you want to come back?"

"Yeah, well Helena was there and she told me that she was looking for something that wasn't there," he explained.

"Which, obviously, was me."

"Obviously, then she went on about the ghosts and the things that haunt Wyndermere."

"Ghosts? Never thought she'd believer in that kind of stuff."

"Yeah, me either. I think that she was just trying to mess with me so I'd stop snooping around."

"If she was worried about that, then wouldn't she just... kill you?"

"Not if she wanted to make sure no one would keep looking around a body would definitely not help with that."

"And you don't think that she doesn't know how to clean up her messes?"

"If I went missing, Wyndemere would be the first place my family would check. I've kind of been obsessed when I thought there was something going on there- which I was right."

"Ok, point to you for following your gut, but next time be more cautious when you do more investigating," Danni said, "you know, the first person in horror movies that dies is always the one who goes to check out the haunted house."

Ethan looked at her in surprise.

"What?" Danni asked.

"I told my brother the same thing when I told him about my run-in with Helena."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, that's kind of weird."

"I guess we're more alike than we think."

"Guess so."

"So what do you think we should do until Luke gets back?"

"Don't know; he wants me stay away from the war against Helena, and I don't when he'll be back," Ethan said, "I guess we'll wait and if Helena shows up before that then we'll handle it ourselves."

"Ok, but what about the rest of your family? Should we fill them in?"

"Well my brother, Lucky, left town. He has some personal issues and needed to get out of Port Charles. And my sister, Lulu, doesn't like getting involved with the Cassidines unless it's necessary."

"Alright, I guess I'll just keep a low profile until Luke gets back."

"So back to living in the tunnels and avoiding human contact then?" Ethan teased.

"Very funny. I said 'low profile", not 'total isolation'.

"Well in that case you shouldn't have a problem with coming with me to a party tomorrow as my date."

"How is that keeping a low profile?"

"There'll be a ton of people there; trust me, you'll be able to blend in if you need to."

"You really aren't going to stop with this 'trying to get to know me', are you?"

"No, not really."

"Fine. One date," Danni agreed.

"Metro Court. 8 o'clock. Should I pick you up or meet you there?"

"I'll meet you, but don't be disappointed if things don't go your way."

"And what's that suppose to mean?"

"Don't expect a midnight kiss."

"Oh, right. Tomorrow's New Years Eve, forgot about that."

"Sure you did," Danni said sarcastically.

Ethan just smirked in response.

To be honest, the thought of kissing Ethan made Danni's heart beat a little faster. She didn't know what, but she was attracted to him and she barely knew him.

"Alright, I'm gonna go."

"Yeah, it's getting late," Ethan agreed.

After they walked out Ethan kept staring as Danni walked away; just like her, he couldn't figure why he liked her and was attracted to her so quickly. All he knew was that he wanted to keep getting to know her.

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**So what do you think? Read and Review.**

**Also up to suggestions for the story too; sometimes I get a little stuck writing, maybe what my readers want could inspire me.**

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